For the past several months, Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) and its partner, Korean Aerospace Inc. (KAI), have been considering a clean-sheet design for a new U.S. Air Force training jet. The T-X, as it’s mysteriously called, would replace the decades old T-33 trainer, and may be the last large Air Force contract available for some time.
A team composed of Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) and Saab are preparing two clean-sheet designs for the new training jet, and another clean-sheet design is reportedly being worked on by Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC) and partners BAE Systems and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LLL). A fourth competitor, Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), was last said to be considering a partnership with Italy’s Alenia Aermacchi, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, which had terminated plans to partner with General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) to bid on the new trainer.
A Lockheed executive said Thursday that its bid would offer a modernized version of KAI’s T-50. According to a report at Defense News, Lockheed EVP Rob Weiss said a clean-sheet design would be eight times more expensive than an upgraded T-50A. Weiss added:
At the end of the day, it costs more, takes longer, is higher risk and does not add any capability beyond what our modernized T-50 will do.
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